Madrid, first day
We arrived in Madrid on Saturday evening and the first thing that struck us was the mass of humanity in every nook and cranny. Which is why it was surprising that at 10:00 am on Sunday the streets were practically deserted. We decided to see the Reina Sofia first, as we did not have advanced tickets and we thought the lines would be shorter. In fact, there was no line at all. When we left after an extraordinary three hours, the line was across the rather large plaza.
The Reina is the most expertly curated museum I have ever experienced. Items in the permanent collection flow perfectly through time and are accentuated by films of the period that run continuously. (An Andalusian Dog–this blog’s namesake–was predictably playing in one room.) The collection is presented along a timeline that illustrates the chaos and misery of 20th century Spain, from WWI through II and the Spanish Civil War. It’s fascinating to see the artists’ styles and sensibilities change over this period–Dali becomes more surreal, Picasso breaks apart reality.
I’ve been a devotee of Joan Miró since my Oberlin days working in the Allen Art Museum with the conservators reframing and rematting some of his prints, and the Miró collection here is wonderful. On this visit to the Reina Sofia, I’ve developed a new fondness for Óscar Dominguez, Ángeles Santos, and particularly Juan Gris. The latter, of which I knew almost nothing before this visit, was a founder of the cubist movement who later rejected the movement and began painting decidedly non-cubist semi-abstractions using subdued and very beautiful (to my eye) tones. You can judge for yourself below.
Later in the day we walked to the Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol–flowed with the river of humanity, to be more precise–and did a bit of shopping. I suspect we won’t go back except to get to the Royal Palace.
And here begins the Juan Gris lesson. First, Gris during his cubist period.
A transitional piece:
And finally some post-cubist work, which I like very much:
And for the record, a shot from the Plaza Mayor:
6 thoughts on “Madrid, first day”
Looks like a fun first day in Madrid.
You HAVE to go back to Puerto del Sol because the tapas place with the outrageous fried almonds is just a couple of blocks from there!!
And where will you guys be hanging out for Halloween?!?!
You don’t happen to remember the name of the place, do you? There are several dozen in every direction. Halloween–not sure yet. It’s not celebrated here nearly as much as in the states, but I suspect there will be some activity.
On another note–excellent meal tonight in a tiny Galatian restaurant. Caldo (soup, excellent), an assortment of Galatian cheeses with hard bread, and the best roasted vegetables (with rock salt) I’ve ever had. We’ve had a policy of not going back to the same restaurant twice, but that may change.
It is Taberna del Chato, Calle de la Cruz, 35. Apparently there’s another place with same name and menu at #8, but I *think* the one we went to was at #35. We tried not to eat at the same place, either, but went here 3 nights in a row, then moved on to other spots. It was directly across the very small street from a flamenco bar. We liked to get there when they open at 7:00p so we could sit in the window, or at least the front room, and people-watch. We ordered a drink and waited for them to bring the almonds, and after snarfing them in 30 seconds we asked for more… Oh yeah, their tapas offerings were very good, too!
Found it, just a few blocks from our B&B. I’ll send photos…
Love it! That Ramos piece is MAGNIFICENT!
I suspect you mean the Santos piece, and I agree. Even more impressive when you stand in front of it. It’s about three meters per side. I knew next to nothing about her, but her story is quite interesting. She died at in 2013 at 101. I had no idea…